Suchergebnisse

In the twenty years since the collapse of communism in the Eastern Bloc, various scholars of history, women's studies, sociology, political science, and reproductive rights have studied the occurrence of abortion in these formerly communist countries. Although some have sought to question the notion of "abortion culture," most look to these countries as places where abortion was tragically prevalent and accepted. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the assumed knowledge concerning abortion and how this obscures understandings of abortion in formerly communist countries of Eastern Europe. By creating genealogy of "abortion culture," this research seeks to trace the history of how abortion came to be understood as a moral issue, the power behind these understandings, and the resulting consequences. Throughout history, abortion has been understood many different ways until evolving into the understanding that it is negative, it is a moral issue, it is a medical issue, it should be limited, and should only occur rarely. These taken for granted understandings have shaped how abortion in formerly communist countries have been researched and discussed. Beyond academia, these understandings have resulted in a pairing of communism and abortion designed to discredit both.

AbstractThis article presents a qualitative analysis of profeminist Islamic women public figures' discourses in the abortion debate in Turkey in 2012. The aim is to reveal the possibilities and limitations of achieving an intersectional and egalitarian profeminist collaboration on the Islamic-secular axis in contemporary Turkey. Drawing on recent feminist scholarship on coalition politics, the article exposes the fluctuations of meaning and the shifting frames of reference in these women's narratives and relates this hybrid, dynamic narrative quality to profeminist Islamic women's unique social location. It also elaborates on the blockage points in these narratives that hinder coalitional ways of thinking. Within this frame, this article suggests that in a social and political context that has witnessed a striking upsurge of antifeminist gender politics in the last decade, the building of coalitional profeminist politics beyond the Islamic-secular divide can be facilitated by shifting the focus from the apparently irreconcilable character of ideological positionings and lived experiences toward coalitional rhetorical strategies and intermediary narrative lines in profeminist subjects' accounts.

AbstractFour decades after the Court's landmark decision inRoe v. Wade, the issue of abortion persists as a point of contention for elected officials. The Catholic Church has taken a leading role in the pro-life movement, putting many Catholic representatives in a difficult position as they can be cross-pressured by their party, their constituents, and their own beliefs. Given these pressures, how do Catholic legislators explain their positions on abortion? We address this question via an analysis of public statements about abortion made by Catholic representatives and senators in the 108thCongress. We examine which members comment on abortion and use automated text analysis to measure legislators' certainty and use of moral and religious terms when discussing abortion. Multivariate analysis shows that gender, ethnicity, and an interaction between a member's position on abortion and the number of Catholics in their constituency shape how Catholic legislators discuss abortion.

New modes of neoliberal and rights-based reproductive governance are emerging across the world which either paradoxically foreclose access to universal health services or promote legislative reform without providing a continuum of services on the ground. These shifts present new opportunities for the expansion but also the limitation of abortion provision conceptually and 'on-the-ground', both in the Global North and South. The collection of papers in this special issue examine current abortion governance discourse and practice in historical, socio-political contexts to analyse the threat posed to women's sexual and reproductive health and rights globally. Focusing on abortion politics in the context of key intersectional themes of morality, law, religion and technology, the papers conceptually 're-situate' the analysis of abortion with reference to a changing global landscape where new modes of consumption, rapid flows of knowledge and information, increasingly routinised recourse to reproductive technologies and related forms of bio-sociality and solidarity amongst recipients and practitioners coalesce.

This volume explores the concept of Japanese reproductive rights and liberties in light of recent developments in disability studies. Masae Kato asks important questions about what constitutes personhood and how, in the twenty-first century, we come to understand eugenic abortion and other bioethical arguments. Tracing the origin and influence of the concept of a "right," the author places the term in local social and historical contexts in order to determine that it still carries overtones of Anglo-American philosophy, rather than universal truth. Digging deeply into Japanese debates on selective abortion, 'Women's right?' discusses how this charged term can be both de-Westernized and de-masculinized, especially in its appropriations by the Japanese women's movement and disability scholars.

With Latin America home to some of the most draconian bans on abortion in the world, abortion rights is one of the most controversial and hotly contested topics in Latin American politics today. Jane Marcus-Delgado explores the ways in which key actors--from politicians to grassroots activists to the global community--participate and shape strategies in the ongoing debate. Marcus-Delgado sheds new light on the dire situation of Latin American women facing unwanted pregnancies, and on the interactions between the state and its most vulnerable members of society.

Abortion is a hotly debated topic among Muslim communities, yet not many people outside of Muslim communities noticed this controversy, assuming that all Muslims hold similar opinions. In this paper I seek to answer the question: How do anti-abortion and abortion rights groups deploy ideas about Islam in their activism regarding abortion? I analysed the language those organizations use when describing Muslim communities and Muslim views, in order to learn their opinion. I found that a majority of those organizations did not include arguments from both sides, and almost all the Anti-Abortion Websites included generalizations of the Muslim community, and uses the Islamic Religion’s conservative factors as their method to persuade more Muslim people to join their stance on abortion. My research can serve as a contribution to research on broader questions such as: Why do a significant amount of people worldwide have very monolithic and stereotypical impressions on the Islamic religion? How influential is religion to a country's justice system and social morals? Those are all relevant question that matters significantly to our world, I hope that my research can have an impact and perhaps inspire further research into these questions.

To examine the veracity of the political and legal claims of a feminist history against abortion, this Article focuses on one of the leading icons used in antiabortion advocacy—Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Stanton has, quite literally, been the poster child for FFL's historical campaign against abortion, appearing on posters, flyers, and commemorative coffee mugs. Advocates claim that Stanton is a particularly fitting spokesperson because she was a "feisty gal who had seven children and was outspokenly pro-life." They claim that she "condemned abortion in the strongest possible terms" and was "a revolutionary who consistently advocated for the rights of women, for women's education, for the celebration and acceptance of motherhood—and for the protection of children, born and unborn." FFL represented to the Supreme Court that "Elizabeth Cady Stanton clearly argued that the liberation of women was needed to stop the killing of children before and after birth" and that she expressed "an uncompromising view that abortion is 'child-murder.'" To refute the "feminist case against abortion" as attributed to Stanton, this Article proceeds in five parts. Like other works of legal history, this Article is fundamentally concerned with recovering all of the legally relevant facts and placing those facts in appropriate historical and legal context. Part II first details the parameters of the political narrative of antiabortion feminists, focusing on the group Feminists for Life, which orchestrated this historical strategy. Part III then situates Stanton's remarks and views within the appropriate historical context by tracing the development of the nineteenth-century campaign to criminalize abortion. The male propaganda of a physicians' campaign bolstered by sensationalist journalism attacked the common law acceptability of abortion before quickening and employed antifeminist rhetoric about the proper place of women in society. While a few female voices joined the debate to defend women against moral attacks and place the blame for ...

This volume explores the concept of Japanese reproductive rights and liberties in light of recent developments in disability studies. Masae Kato asks important questions about what constitutes personhood and how, in the twenty-first century, we come to understand eugenic abortion and other bioethical arguments. Tracing the origin and influence of the concept of a "right," the author places the term in local social and historical contexts in order to determine that it still carries overtones of Anglo-American philosophy, rather than universal truth. Digging deeply into Japanese debates on selective abortion, Women's Right? discusses how this charged term can be both de-Westernized and de-masculinized, especially in its appropriations by the Japanese women's movement and disability scholars. - Dit boek verkent het concept 'recht'. Hoe dit concept een rol heeft gespeeld in het veroorzaken van onenigheid en misvatting tussen bewegingen van gehandicapte mensen en vrouwen met betrekking tot de kwestie van selectieve abortus in Japan. Tegelijkertijd, probeert de schrijfster om het concept van recht te ontwesteren en te demasculiniseren door erover te theoretiseren hoe deze twee bewegingen de term interpreteerden, ondersteunden en in praktijk brachten. Zij laat ook zien dat het concept niet universeel is.